SACRAMENTO, CA - The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is urging fellow shareowners of the insurance underwriting company Old Republic International Corporation (Old Republic) to vote in favor of a proxy ballot proposal requesting the company to allow shareowners proxy access.

Formally titled Proposal #5, it will provide shareowners the right to nominate directors to the company's board. Without effective proxy access, the director election process simply offers a ratification of management's slate of nominees. The vote for this proposal will take place at Old Republic's Annual General meeting on May 26.

"An overwhelming 74 percent of shareowners supported the same proposal a year ago," said Anne Simpson, CalPERS investment director, sustainability. "We are once again making a request that the Old Republic Board of Directors be accountable to shareowners and adopt a director nomination process that is widely recognized as corporate governance best practice."

The resolution highlights three specific areas:

Beneficial ownership of at least three percent of the outstanding stock

Three years of continuous ownership

Ability to nominate up to 25 percent of the board

Prior to 2015 only 10 U.S. companies had a three percent proxy access bylaw in place – that number has sharply increased to more than 400 companies as of March 10, 2017. The growing number of companies spans across various industries.

For more than eight decades, CalPERS has built retirement and health security for state, school, and public agency members who invest their lifework in public service. Our pension fund serves more than 1.8 million members in the CalPERS retirement system and administers benefits for nearly 1.4 million members and their families in our health program, making us the largest defined-benefit public pension in the U.S. CalPERS’ total fund market value currently stands at approximately $323 billion. For more information, visit www.calpers.ca.gov.